There’s been talk the past couple of days that the latest developer build of OS X Snow Leopard, 10A432, has been designated the “Golden Master” version, meaning it’s ready for prime time. Multiple sources are now stating it is. So now the question is: When will it be released?
Amazon put Snow Leopard up for pre-order a few weeks ago with the following note: “Please note: Official release date has not been announced by Apple, though they have indicated this product will be released sometime in September.” September is also the timetable that Apple gave at its WWDC event in early June. But with the GM version already out there, there are whispers that Apple may have beaten that goal. Friday, August 28 is the day Daring Fireball’s John Gruber is hearing, and he has a very good track record of being right about such things.
As we noted last week, OS X 10.5.8 was likely to be the last update before OS X 10.6 dropped. But an August ship date would certainly be a welcomed surprise. That would also mean nearly a full 2 month head start over Windows 7, which is scheduled to ship October 22. August 28 is also just two weeks from this Friday, so if Apple is really going to launch it then, expect some kind of press release in the next few days.
Earlier today, AppleInsider gave some details about the Snow Leopard installation process, which apparently has quite a few differences from the OS X Leopard install.
OS X Snow Leopard is going to sell for only $29.99, as Apple is considering it mostly a performance upgrade over OS X Leopard. But the performance improvements are expected to be significant, and the footprint of the install has been significantly reduced (due mostly to the fact that it’s Intel-only).
[photo: flickr/wwarby]
If Apple endorsed legitimate installations of OS X on other systems this might mean something … beating Windows 7 by 2 months is otherwise sort of meaningless IMNSHO.
Me, I can’t wait to get my grubby paws on the GM and install it on the Mac Pro.
Do you know, they are closing down on their own machines. You cannot install Snow Leopard on Power PC based machines…. and you are dreaming of other PC’s …lol
Why should they keep supporting old deprecated hardware? By removing this support they’re able to strip a lot of crap out of OSX that simply is not required on my intel iMac. This is a positive and progressive move forward, nothing more or less.
I can install windows 7 on a PC from 1998, to be clearer, its a Pentium II PC with 512 MB of RAM and a AGP card.
Aero UI is not there on that old pc, but Windows 7 is elegant enough to utilize what’s available. It runs faster and takes less RAM as compared to XP on same PC.
Funny how tests confirm Windpws XP are quicker at most normal use tasks than Windows 7…
Sounds more like a hobby project than a useful PC.
@Don Synstelien
Nah, It’s not a hobby project, The machine actually is ON for 24×7 as a test machine. It has WAMP actually.
Some Serial ports are connected to legacy electronic h/w monitoring / logging data (as a datalogger) published on the web on regular basis
I even use it for almost daily, for instance now posting this through FireFox 3.5.2
Use Microsoft Office 2003 for documents and excel sheets.
But, yes, I do not 720p / 1080p watch movies nor do any nonlinear video editing on that 1998 PC. Usually use my G4 PPC based power book for that.
Why would some people criticise Vista for not running on old hardware?
Aha. Aha.
I have 3 perfectly good power pc macs, a mini and a dual CPU G5, and an eMac for the kids. I feel like I’m being left out in the cold. One of the reasons I went mac was the longer useful computer life. Thanks for treating me like week-old dog sh*t, Apple.
Dude, you’re an idiot. I would never expect a computer company to support a machine I bought five years or more down the road. That’s the nature of the computer industry you moron, things move at a fast pace.
I’m expecting all my non-64 bit library using applications to have a heart attack, but it’s nice they’re finally moving away from 32 bit support.
FYI.. If you purchased your Mac after June of 09, you can get Snow Leopard for only $9.99.
What is your source of this? Just want to verify, before getting too excite!
What if you don’t have the latest install of OSX (10.6?), can you still get it for $29.99?
of course you can. but remember : it’s intel core2duo only.
btw, os x 10.6 IS snow leopard… leopard was 10.5
So, are you saying that Snow Leopard won’t work with the original Core Duo chip? That’s what I have in my macbook. I don’t have the Core 2 Duo version…
Its INTEL only, not 64bit only. Its fully capable of running 32 bit apps on a 32bit processor as well as 32&64bit apps on a 64bit processor.
Umm… Isn’t it confirmed for September?
“Coming September 2009 with every new Mac. Upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard for just $29. “
Yes, Apple has previously said September, but new indications are that it might drop early. Hence everything said above.
If Apple endorsed legitimate installations of OS X on other systems this might mean something … beating Windows 7 by 2 months is otherwise sort of meaningless IMNSHO.
Me, I can’t wait to get my grubby paws on the GM and install it on the Mac Pro…
I agree its meaningless, Windows 7 was almost ready from the first and only Beta several months ago, Microsoft has taken its sweet time to get it right and it will be on several tens of millions of machines in short order.
I’m looking forward to Snow Leopard simply because leopard is such a dog..its Vista in the world of OSX.
Hopefully Apple will drill down on security in this version,They’ve taken their sweet time addressing
security issues in Leopard and they’re over due to pick up the pace.
“Leopard is such a dog?”
Apart from using a curious metaphor, how can you justify saying that Leopard is bad? I find it rock-solid, secure, and a boon to productivity.
What does Windows 7 really achieve, given that it’s an operating system designed on the same ancient principles? The fact that Windows Registry is still the heart of the operating system tells its own little story.
Having played around with it, Windows 7 is shaping up to be the best Windows OS release since XP, but it offers few innovations.
I’m jaded by what Microsoft thinks we want: the taskbar previews and jumplists are interesting but rather underwhelming, for instance.
The fact that there is still the need for different versions of the same OS makes my heart sink. Apple demonstrates that you can serve home and enterprise with one robust OS.
Snow Leopard underlines Apple’s commitment to innovation. Grand Central Despatch and Open CL are extraordinarily forward-thinking and I can’t wait to see how developers take advantage of those platforms.
The 64-bit architecture, smaller installation footprint, improved accessibility, auto-updating printer drivers, QuickTime X, among many others, are also great features that help give OS X the edge. All for $29.99!
Hate to break it to you, but you just got trolled big time.
By you or Joe?
@Delacroix,
$29 on your blind eyes.
$160 to me because i skipped 10.5, still on 10.4
What’s worse, I am using Power PC based G4 Power Book. I cant install at any cost you know.
Are you being deliberately mischievous? It won’t cost you $160 because (a) Snow Leopard will cost no more than $29.99 regardless of your current version; and (b) you can’t install it anyway because, as you acknowledge, your Mac is ancient.
May I suggest upgrading your hardware once Snow Leopard is released? If you really want Snow Leopard because of the innovations it offers, I assume you’ll want the kind of hardware that those innovations take advantage of.
No point in multicore processing features in Snow Leopard on a computer with only one processor. A bit of joined-up thinking wouldn’t go amiss, Nothing.
(Are all the trolls on TechCrunch hired by Microsoft?)
@Delacroix,
that $29 price is for those who have 10.5 (leopard)
for users (like me) who have tiger (10.4) the price is around $160 you may check various forums and blogs for authenticity.
@Nothing.
Sorry, I was mistaken about the pricing for Tiger users, which costs $169, though this is for a box set that includes Snow Leopard, iLife and iWork. This seems like excellent value.
Besides, as you said, the pricepoint is moot because your hardware doesn’t support Snow Leopard anyway.
You know I find your opinion lacking, but OSX was a dog and I agree it was the Vista OSX. But I also disagree, MS has a much, much, much larger audience, hardware support platform and language and marketing channels to deal with than Apple could dream of. So getting it out slow and meticulous is require. Also, Apple does NOT have to deal with 100’s of hardware dealer manu’s and such. Makes distribution easy. To compare the two releases is showing lack of knowledge and immaturity.
@Rotten
You say OS X “was a dog”, but you haven’t given any reason why it is only on par with Vista, rendering your opinion that of a troll. Write a basic justification at least. I assume by ‘OS X’ you mean Leopard 10.5 specifically?
Windows fans (if that’s not too strong a word) often cite the need to remain interoperable for why the OS maintains a number of awkward legacy components like the Registry.
Given that Windows must support a large ecosystem of devices and software, you would have thought since XP that Microsoft would have made much bigger strides in simplifying their OS and empowering developers with a better platform that throws off the shackles of the past.
The number of Mac-compatible devices is hardly negligible. I can plug in almost any printer I want and it will work in OS X. My mobile phone connects to my Mac via Bluetooth with little fuss. I can share folders with my Windows colleagues with zero-configuration.
You talk as though Windows is the only OS that needs to remain open to third-party software and devices. The Mac ecosystem is very rich and highly compatible.
OS X has excellent language support, millions of users, and a number of ‘marketing channels’ as you call them. I notice you warn me away from comparing Windows with OS X, yet your whole comment attempts to criticise Apple’s efforts in comparison with what you perceive as a more complex and mature OS like Windows.
You are singularly wrong and on any reasonable view Mac OS X is an exceptionally stable, secure and productive OS with many intelligent and intuitive features. Snow Leopard introduces a number of exciting additions. Enjoy Windows if that is all you want from an OS.
Time to get a new apple…
“Time to get a new apple…”
Nah, I’m waiting for the Annandale Mac Book Pros. I’m hoping for Q4 2009, but it might slip into 2010. I guess I can wait.
Annandale Mac Book Pros cost about $3799 only. too bad i spent that on other important things.
The only thing about time tables and operating systems this time around is that even with the “lead” that 10.6 is going to have in the pure consumer market, Enterprise establishments are busily downloading their volume licensed versions of Windows 7.
All this with Windows XP support getting the taste of souring milk, IT departments who have been avoiding Vista are trying to pump the gas on a Windows 7 rollout. Guess where most consumers go when they aren’t at home? WORK.
I am an Apple fan, and 10.6 looks promising; but no one can deny that Redmond finally released a polished product with WIn7.
What makes you think they’ll jump on to Windows 7? For the same reasons they won’t jump on to Vista, they probably can’t jump on to 7. It’s not technical… it’s financial and time.
Sure. And now we’re three years further down the refresh cycle it’s time to upgrade.
I’m slightly confused about what is so compelling about Windows 7. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’ve used the Beta version and it does seem stable but what of substance does Windows 7 offer over, say, XP, let alone OS X?
I’ve read that the Windows 7 will be more compatible than Vista was upon its launch, and there are small productivity enhancements like the taskbar previews and invisible windows.
It’s very clear to me how Snow Leopard improves upon its predecessor. Just take a look at the product page on the Apple web site. The Windows 7 site, by contrast, has a rather dire list of improvements, including ‘Jump Lists’ and ‘better device management’, not to mention – oh my – IE8.
Windows 7 is still Windows and nothing short of a radical overhaul will make me abandon OS X.
So, someone sell Windows 7 to me: what is so compelling about it?
No-one? Not even a short list of what makes Windows 7 so compelling?
Our company still uses XP and we were told we would not be moving to Windows 7 anytime soon.
Since I use a Mac I can’t wait for Snow Leopard. And the fact that it will now play with Exchange like my iPhone is HUGE!
The new Leopard OS will make Apple users happy, but I doubt it will be the tipping point for PC owners to switch to Mac.
Windows 7 on the other hand will definitely be a reason why PC owners will stay with a PC and you may find less people switching over to Macs. Until of course Apple brings out a low-end competitively priced macbook.
Apple will not bring out a low-end ‘competitively’ priced macbook. end of story.
In order for BMW to stay up with Ford they need to come out with a cheaper car (the ford focus completely outsells them). True? I think not – BMW is a premium car company just as Apple is a premium computer company. Apple dominates the $1000 and up computer business (with an astounding 91% market share).
+1 Ray,
Indeed, i have installed Win7 on a 1998 Machine and it runs as smooth as silk. faster than XP on same pc.
Apple is doing all wrong things at right time by discontinuing the support to their OWN h/w that is not even 4 years old.
They do not drop support for these older machines. You know, they just released a security update for Mac OSX 10.4 (a.k.a. Tiger)…
@Basophil,
They don’t, but now i am no longer sure how long will that support continue. they have already discontinued developing OS for a 4 year old H/W, who knows tomorrow they will stop the support!
Get with the times, Nothing. How long should Apple continue to support such old software? Four years is a long time is software development: you want Apple to slow down? Apple has a great history of supporting its older operating systems, but don’t complain because Apple are serious about bringing innovation to its customers.
Apple really got lucky. The economy helped them out as many companies will probably not switch over to Windows 7 immediately (the cost is too high for the current financial status and the fear of a Vista repeat). However, Apple could lower its Snow Leopard version of Mac OS X because it hardly makes any money off of its software (whereas Microsoft is solely a software company and cannot afford to lower its price to practically nothing).
I will try it on my PC to judge if it’s worth the overpriced hardware.
The picture you have used is of a tiger ???
Please learn to use Google image search. It’s a Snow Leopard (it’s not just some name Apple made up, they actually exist).
A tiger?! Do you have problems with your vision?
i want wait to install this on my mac mini , i read that all the official apps like mail and safari were REALLY faster !
for that price , it’s really interesting
So Apple rip out support for PPC, which makes a smaller install footprint and optimize their code for Intel and you have to pay $29.99 for that ? If it runs better on my Macbook I’ll be happy, I also thought Leopard was a bit of dog, some nice features but ultimately Tiger just felt more complete and lightweight.
Apple are we finally going to get a fully 64bit OS, you have been promising since Tiger that this would happen never has.
I think we’re seeing a price reduction in the OS for another reason. Small iterations with a lower price tag are likely the future of the Mac OS X business model. Once everyone is using the a free web os (i.e. Chrome OS) we’ll see little reason in paying a high price for what’s new. Smart move on Apple’s part. I’ll definitely pay for the $30 upgrade.
Take note MS Windows!
I think I will wait until a good solid review about Windows 7 vrs Snow Leopard. Then I will choose to buy Windows or build a Hackintosh